Brothers Quay
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Stephen and Timothy Quay (b. 1947 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), twin brothers better known as the Brothers Quay, are influential stop-motion animators.
They reside and work in England where they moved in the late 1960s (after studying illustration in Philadelphia) to study at the Royal College of Art where they made their first and now last short films. They expended some time in the Netherlands in the 1970s and then returned to England where they teamed up with another Royal College student, Keith Griffiths, who produced all of their films, and formed Koninck Studios in 1980.
The Quays' works (1980-present) show influence from Czech animator Jan Švankmajer, for whom they named one of their films (The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer). Most of their films feature dolls, often partially disassembled, in a dark, moody atmosphere. Perhaps best known is Street of Crocodiles, based on the short story of the same name by the Polish author and artist Bruno Schulz. This short film was selected by director and animator Terry Gilliam as one of the ten best animated films of all time. They have created one feature-length live action film: Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life. Their second feature-length live action film is The Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes. They also directed an animated sequence in the film Frida.
One of the most powerful artistic expressions in their work is the use of experimental music composers for their films (which are almost always exclusively devoid of dialogue). Composers they have employed in the past include Lech Jankowski, His Name Is Alive, and Karlheinz Stockhausen.
They have created music videos for His Name Is Alive ("Are We Still Married", "Can't Go Wrong Without You") and Michael Penn ("Long Way Down (Look What the Cat Drug In)"). Some people mistakenly believe that the Quays are responsible for several music videos for Tool, but those videos were created by the band's guitarist, Adam Jones, who is also an animator and whose work is influenced by the Quays. Their work also includes decors for the Theatre and Opera productions of director Richard Jones: Prokofiev's "Love for Three Oranges"; Feydeau's "A Flea in Her Ear"; Tchaikovsky's "Mazeppa"; and Moličre's "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme.". Their set design for Ionesco's "The Chair" was nominated for a Tony Award in 1998.
Filmography
- Nocturna Artificialia (1979)
- Punch And Judy (Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy) (1980)
- Ein Brudermord (1981)
- The Eternal Day Of Michel de Ghelderode (1981)
- Stravinsky - The Paris Years (1983)
- Leos Janacek: Intimate Excursions (1983)
- The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer (1984)
- The Epic Of Gilgamesh (1985) Aka The Unnameable Little Broom
- Street Of Cocodriles (1986)
- Stille Nacht I: Dramolet (1988)
- Rehearsals For Extinct Anatomies (1988)
- Ex-Voto/The Pond (1989)
- The Comb (From The Museum Of Sleep) (1990)
- De Artificiali Perspectiva, or Anamorphosis (1991)
- The Calligrapher (1991)
- Stille Nacht II: Are We Still Married (1991)
- Long Way Down (Look What The Cat Drug In) (1992)
- Stille Nacht III: Tales From The Vienna Woods (1992)
- Stille Nacht IV: Can't Go Wrong Without You (1993)
- Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life (1995)
- In Absentia (2000)
- The Sandman (2000)
- Duet (2000)
- The Phantom Museum: Random Forays Into the Vaults of Sir Henry Wellcome's Medical Collection (2003)
- The Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes (2004)